


One Thing

by Shadowmagic0107



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, How Do I Tag, Keith is a sweetheart, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, uh read the authors note please, what is happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28124955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowmagic0107/pseuds/Shadowmagic0107
Summary: “What is one thing you want more than anything I the universe?” The question is whispered into a dim room, only lit by the stars just outside the glass walls.
Relationships: Allura/Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	One Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Uh hi. It’s been quite a while. Heh.… sorry. 
> 
> Mild Trigger Warning for when Keith does the kamikaze bullshit at Naxela. Please monitor your mental health. 
> 
> I listened to Vanilla Twilight on loop while writing this if that gives you any indication to where this is going.

“What is one thing you want more than anything I the universe?” The question is whispered into a dim room, only lit by the stars just outside the glass walls. 

You . The answer hits Keith sudden and intense, swallowing his entire being, leaving him gasping for air.  You you you. He barely stops himself from saying the words. 

“Um.” It sounds too rough and too loud after the whispered question. “I think I just want this war to be over.” It isn’t a lie. “There are so many aliens we meet who are suffering and fighting because of it. It’s be nice to just let everyone catch a break.” Lance hums. “What about you?” 

It isn’t whispered, it isn’t soft, but he just dares to hope.

“I would do anything to be with my family right now.” Keith’s disappointment is quickly overshadowed by a warm feeling. 

The answer is so incredibly  Lance that he can’t help but give him a sad little smile and bumps their shoulders together, “We’ll get you back to them, buddy. I promise.”

—

The meeting is tense. Allura is made of snappy responses and not so hidden glares at the Galra sitting across from her. Kolivan, to his credit, doesn’t react to it. 

Keith’s nerves are on fire. He can see the others giving Kolivan looks too, theirs verging on nervous. He doesn’t say much during the meeting, choosing to observe and soak up the plan.

The dreaded question is asked when the team is changing out of their suits. In between the clatter chest plates and gauntlets and Pidge fooling around with her bayard, it’s Hunk who asks. 

“So how did you get them to join the coalition?” He sees Shiro stiffen from across the room. 

Keith can feel the anxiety building up, crawling along his spine and forming a lump in his throat. He could battle a thousand Galra fleets alone, but this would always get him. This is where it ends. 

Shiro could probably see his terror from across the room because he comes to stand next to Keith and whisper, “You don’t have to tell them if you don’t feel comfortable.”

Keith squared his shoulders, it’s best if they hear it from him. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are looking at him expectantly. He braces himself before speaking, “I passed their trials, I’m technically part of the Blade of Marmora.”

Pidge gave him a look, “Don’t they have a Galra only thing going on?” Keith nodded, it was nearly impossible to speak about the lump in his throat, “Did they make an exception because you’re a paladin?”

Keith tried to speak, but he couldn’t make a sound. Shiro answered for him, “No.”Pidge‘scalculating gaze seemed to drill into his soul. 

Lance snorted, “So, what, are you Galra or something?”

It was said as a joke, but for Keith it was the killing strike. He choked on the fear that enveloped him. It was like a wave, crashing into him then drawing away, leaving him bare and emotionless as he could do nothing more than nod. 

The silence was broken by a small, thin voice, “Wait, what?” 

Keith was beyond emotions at this point. He felt separate from his body as he watched himself explain his mother’s knife and how it led him to the trials.  Knowledge or death.  He could still hear Kolivan’s cold voice echoing around in his head, along with the bruises and cuts that line his body. He saw Shiro’s hand grip his own, but couldn’t feel it. 

He saw Lance yelling and Hunk looking between them, confusion and fear clouding his eyes. He saw Pidge staring at him in what was most likely horror. He saw Shiro trying to calm down Lance long enough for him to explain. But Keith felt nothing through the clouds that had settled in his mind. 

A clear voice cut through them, just for a moment,  “You’re a lying monster. Just like the rest of them!”  It was Lance’s voice, so different from all the nights they spent together on the star deck, wishing for things they couldn’t have. 

Not whispered, not soft. It’s cutting and painful. It makes something in Keith shatter. 

Where there is no space for tears, anger explodes. He shakes off Shiro’s hand and shoved past Lance, ignoring the glisten of unshed tears in his eyes. 

Keith spent the next few hours in the training room. He had a mission with Hunk in a little and he didn’t want his energy to scare the soft guy off.  You live and you lose  is what someone had said to him at some point. 

Keith struggled to live and even then, everything he lost was his family. First his dad, then Shiro, and now the team. He knocked one of the robots down and ran his sword through it. Every time.  Every time he tried to find his place, it had to get ruined. The new bot managed to get him in the stomach, along with the pain came Lance’s anger. 

( _You’re a lying monster_ )

( _I’d give anything to be with my family_ )

( _Just like the rest of them_ )

( _We’ll get you there buddy_ )

I promise. 

—

“Sorry.” Lance was sullen and tired. They lost Shiro and the battle was hard and long. Keith had no clue what Lance was apologizing for, “I didn’t mean to get that mad. I was surprised.”  Oh . “You aren’t a monster, and you aren’t like the others. I don’t think you’re a liar and I’m sorry I said any of that in the first place.” It’s quiet and blank. There is no emotion, but that’s fine. 

Keith feels hollow and shattered as he watched Lance walk back to Hunk and Pidge to get a pat on the back and a hug. 

( _It’s not quiet, it isn’t soft_ )

Keith turns away. He needs to get back out and search for Shiro, he may have lost him along with the rest of the team, but he refuses to let him go. 

—

They were going to die. They were going to  die . His comms were transferring panicked yells and frantic updates on the situation. The pressure created by the Galra structures in the planet was reacting to a chemical found deep within the planet’s surface, making it a huge bomb. Voltron was going to die in the middle of the blast and there was nothing Keith could do. 

He needed to get on site. Matt and Coran seemed fine letting him go into the fray alone. Their blasters and guns were going nothing the strange forcefield the witch had put around the control of the bomb. His radio picked up some static from Voltron, in between he could hear Hunk and Lance arguing about something, panic clear in their voices. They were going to die if Keith couldn’t figure out something right now. 

The answer hits Keith hard and sudden. The blasters going off around him we’re doing nothing against the field so they’d need something more powerful. They didn’t have lions, so he would do the next best thing. 

Matt’s voice in his comm did nothing to deter him. They may not need him the way they needed him before, but he refused to let the people who had spent so many nights laughing with him and fighting alongside him die. He would do anything to stop it from happening. They needed to share their kindness and bravery with the world, he was willing to sacrifice himself for that. 

“Keith  _no_ !”

( _I’d give anything to be with my family right now_ )

( _I promise_ )

-

_You aren’t Shiro._ The man in front of Keith was almost identical to him, but they weren’t the same. He didn’t ruffle Keith’s hair. He didn’t laugh when Hunk pet Pidge when she was angry. He didn’t give Matt a noogie or make shitty puns at weird times to see his focus break. He didn’t check on Allura at odd hours to make sure she wasn’t overworking. He wasn’t the Shiro Keith knew and it hurt to act like he was. 

Lance also gave not-Shiro a few weird looks, but was also closed off whenever Keith visited. The others tried their best to seem normal around him, it was tiresome. So he focused all his efforts into Blade work. 

—

It wasn’t Shiro. It was a clone. That had tried to kill him. He couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Shiro’s smile as he chased Keith around that stupid space platform thing. 

_I died Keith_.

He’s holding back tears when he calls the castle. It becomes that much harder when he sees Lance and Allura hugging each other. Keith hasn’t been able to figure out if they got together while he was with the Blade but it hurts to see them that intimate. He ignores Lance’s exclamation and explains the situation to them. He practically begs Shiro for a way to get there in time. He prays it won’t be the same as Naxela. 

—

He doesn’t remember much of the fight. He remembers the anger and the pain he felt radiating from the blue lion. Heremembers fighting for the will to go on and he remembers Lotor and his creation floating off into the distance. 

“But we can’t just leave him.” Allura sounds so broken. He can feel her conflicting emotions through the lions. 

“Allura, we have to go now.” Lance’s voice doesn’t snap her out of it. She’s torn and Keith can feel it coursing through him. 

All of a sudden Keith is  angry . Even after everything, Allura is a badass space princess, who lost her people and her father, but still managed to bring together a new age of paladins without a second thought. She threw herself into training and diplomacy and suffering along with the rest of them. She singlehandedly built the Galactic Coalition from  nothing . Lotor didn’t get to have this kind of effect on her. He was a manipulative slimeball, he didn’t get to break down one of the strongest people Keith knew. 

( _Just like the rest of them_ )

He pulls up a video with the blue lion, “Lotor’s made his choice.” He struggles to keep the rage out of his voice, “Lets get out of here, Allura.” For a moment Keith worries he was too rough with the delivery, but it seems to snap Allura back to herself. He still feels the hurt, but it’s overshadowed by resolve. 

Keith gives himself a second to take a vicious kind of glee from imagining Lotor being ripped apart along with the quintessence field before pushing all of his leftover energy into getting Voltron out of there before they follow suit. 

—

Lance comes back smiling. They all do, but it’s been so long since he’s seen Lance smile like that. He doesn’t realize how soft his own smile is until Shiro gives him a sly look from the middle of everyone’s embrace. Keith is quick to look away.

While Krolia, Shiro, and Allura talk about something or the other, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk try to teach Romelle and Coran Earth humor. They seem happy, so Keith doesn’t bother interrupting, choosing to sit on the edge of a cliff with his fingers running through Cosmo’s fur, trying to get the dirt out.

The anger has been completely washed out of him by the fear and desperation from the last few hours, the space it used to take up is now filled with backwashes of sadness. He allows himself to feel the things he’s been holding off for months. 

Lance hasn’t looked at him the same since he joined the Blade. Images of Shiro trying to kill him. Matt’s voice as he nearly kills himself to save the team. The two years he spent away from the people he’s cared so much about since they left earth behind. The constant violence and fighting. The nights he spent with Lance so so long ago. Lotor manipulated them so easily. He hurt the team so much while Keith was gone. He made Lance feel worthless, he hurt and twisted Allura, his father  killed Shiro. Pidge nearly lost her  brother . And Keith wasn’t there for them. He left to play nice with the Blade. 

He lets the tears slide down his face as Cosmo nudges his way into his arms. Keith gives a wet chuckle, “I’m good buddy, just a little overwhelmed.” He just wants the fighting to be over. He buried his face in Cosmo’s fur and let the sadness overwhelm him. 

He doesn’t notice Lance standing a few feet away, watching him break down. 

—

“ _You ran away Keith, maybe you should’ve stayed away._ ”

—

Keith can feel his ribs being bent by the hard ground as his back and shoulders struggle to hold Zethrid’s weight. She’s over seven feet tall and built of pure muscle, he’s bound to have some sort of difficulty. Even so, he refused to let her fall. She was just sad and angry, she didn’t deserve to die. Keith wished for his chest plate or maybe his boots. He need to get up before his ribs were crushed or he lost his grip. 

Finally, he feels hands grab and pull him. He can feel the joints in his arms popping and he tries to use his own strength to pull up the woman. He whispers an apology as he helps her to her feet. After the handcuffs are secure he gives Axca a questioning glance, but pulls Zethrid away at her wince. 

Keith, inexplicably, feels tears well up as he double checks on James and his crew and the rest of his team. Now isn’t the time for this. His brain whispers to him. He agrees and tries to focus on his duties. 

—

The anger is back. It’s overwhelming. He wants to  hurt.  To rip and tear through everything Zarkon cares about. They were his  team . They worked with him, they had his back. They were his friends. And he betrayed them. He hurt them. Keith is boiling just under his skin. 

By the time they see the enormous version of Zarkon in Honerva’s mind he’s aching to hit something. By the time his team is running for cover, he’s gearing up for battle. 

“You were their leader!” The words rip their way out of his throat, “They trusted you, and you betrayed them. You don’t deserve the Black Lion.” His blood is still running boiling hot. The robot’s only response is to attack him. 

Keith feels the anger threaten to overtake him. But Black is there, her voice in his head is firm.  No. Stay calm. You need your head on straight to fight him.  He grits his teeth. She’s right. At her prompting, he leads their team into forming Voltron. 

They try their best, but Zarkon catches them in his whip and electricity runs it’s way through all of their bodies. Keith sees red. First it was his own team, now it’s Keith’s. He won’t let it happen again. He needs to get them out of here. He tries to get through the electricity and to Black, but she can’t hear him over the pain of their team. They need him and there’s nothing he can do. 

( _They may not need him the way they needed him before, but he refused to let the people who had spent so many nights laughing with him and fighting alongside him die_ )

In a flash of light, the old paladins are standing before them, between them and Zarkon. Their lions roar and Keith can feel their defiance in his bones. They’ve been hurt before, but they refuse to let that phase them. Their lions somehow fuse into Voltron, the new paladins can feel the the strength of their predecessors in their bones. Keith feels an arm around the back of his chair. 

Alfor’s presence pulls him years into the past, to the night his father died. His anger is overflowing, but so is his fear. What if they think he’s like Zarkon? He’s Galra, and the black paladin. Can they feel his bloodthirst? Do they think he’s too volatile?

( _You’re a lying monster. Just like the rest of them!_ )

Keith’s just going through the motions, but Alfor’s presence doesn’t leave him. Shouldn’t he be with Lance? Is he keeping an eye on me? The other paladins join Alfor in the black lion’s cockpit. Keith’s self doubt doubles and he almost gets them caught in the whips again. 

“Thank you.” Keith somehow manages to keep an eye on the battle when Alfor speaks. 

The former green paladin is the next to speak, “We understand that you are in battle, but this may be our only chance to talk to you.”

“You are here to protect them. They’ve never said it, but they are endlessly grateful.” The yellow paladin has a low rumbly voice, almost like his dad. 

The blue paladin put his head on Keith’s backrest, “We also have to thank you for being so angry on our behalf. We never had a chance to tell him to his face, so thanks for what you said.” 

“You need to talk to your team when this is over.” Alfor says quietly, “There has been many miscommunications. But for now, “ a grin makes its way onto Alfor’s face, “let’s make him pay.”

Keith grins along with him, “Form sword!”

( _You_ )

—

_Humans began very flawed. There were wars, hate. But with each mistake, they learned and grew. And now we reach out to other worlds to pass on those same lessons and spread them across the entire universe like your people once did. With every new world touched, the message grows. Every world, every reality. We wouldn’t exist without the others. Our differences are what makes us stronger._

Every battle, every choice, every mistake led to this moment. This was their truth. This was what they made of their reality. 

When Honerva speaks, Keith finds himself seeing her as a person, not a witch, not some random Galra, a person. Someone who found the world twisted and painful, who didn’t have the right people to show her the love and beauty the world is capable of. “If I cannot experience the simple joys of life, why should anyone else?”

Just like that, Allura was there to show her what she and his team had shown Keith. Interest in life. The people who loved and cared for her, and people she had cared for. The paladins saw Lotor animated as he talked to Allura about Altean culture. 

“He deserved better.” Honerva muttered. Keith felt the leftover burn of an old anger. Lotor got exactly what he deserved. But it wasn’t his place, so he kept quiet as Allura continued to work her magic. 

“Help us change this.” Allura was reaching out a hand that Honerva probably hasn’t gotten the chance to take in millennia.Keith felt something like fear strike his heart when Honerva told them there was nothing left to save. Allura refused to retract her hand. She offered some kind of alternate that had Honerva shocked. 

The look in Allura’s eyes when she turned back to them, made fear crawl up Keith’s spine. 

“I fear this is where we part ways.” the paladins tried fo protest but Allura continued speaking. “This is our chance to fix everything. To give people’s lives back to them. To end the fighting. This is my purpose.” 

Hunk says something, he tries, but Allura gives him a hug. As she says her goodbyes to Pidge and Shiro, Keith’s mind is overrun by ways he can try and make her stay. 

“You never have to thank me for anything.” Shiro’s voice cuts through his thoughts. Keith realizes that Allura has made her choice. And it’s her choice to make. He just needs to make sure she knows how amazing she is before she goes. 

“Keith.” Her voice makes the fear creep further up his spine. He doesn’t want her to go. “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve given me. There is greatness in your heart and in your actions.”

Keith tried to muster up a smile, “You’ve done so much for us.” He somehow manages to choke out. “You’ll always be our badass space princess. We can never forget how strong you’ve been all this time.” He hugs her tight. “I’ll miss you Allura.”

She gives him a warm smile and finally turns to Lance. He tries desperately to get her to stay, but she’s is resolute. 

“I’ll always be with you, Lance.” She says and leans in to give him one last kiss. Keith feels like he’s intruding on their moment. When he sees the Altean markings show up under Lance’s eyes, he knows she isn’t lying.

There’s a bright glow, and the past paladins appear before them. Lotor and Zarkon are there too, Keith has to hold back a little voice inside his mind. They were corrupted. This is their pure form. Allura follows them into the light, giving them one last look before she leaves. 

( _I think I just want this war to be over. There are so many aliens we meet who are suffering and fighting because of it. It’s be nice to just let everyone catch a break_.)

—

It was many years later, after Shiro’s wedding, actually, when Lance and Keith find themselves under the stars again. 

“I still think about it.” Keith mutters into the night. “When I told you guys I was Galra.” Lance sucks in a breath. “Alfor told me to talk to you guys about it, but I couldn’t bring it up with out being  scared . I thought you guys would just leave me behind because I might end up like him. Like the Galra in me might somehow make me corrupted, just like Zarkon.” The name is spit out with so much hate, but Lance still doesn’t say anything. “I was terrified that once I had the black lion, I’d become power hungry and self-serving. I thought I’d become a monster.” Lance chokes. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad or anything. I just wanted to say it out loud to someone that wasn’t Cosmo.” Keith gave a wet chuckle. 

“I wasn’t thinking.” Lance says. It’s too loud and too quiet at the same time. “I wasn’t thinking and I’m so sorry I said those things to you. I didn’t believe any of them for a second. You were still Keith and I was an idiot. I swear. All I could think was that the Galra had taken everything from us, and that you were suddenly you were going to leave us too, for the Blade.” Lance stopped for breath. “I was _scared_ and an idiot, and I decided driving you away was a good idea. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t. I missed you every single day. You cared for each of us, just as much as Shiro did, if not more, and all of us only realized when you weren’t there to check in on us, and make sure we were all doing okay. I’m so sorry for making you feel like you weren’t everything you were.” Lance was rambling and Keith was listening as he stared into Lance’s dark eyes. He saw a blue shine as they filled with tears. 

( _You_ .)

“What is one thing you want more than anything I the universe?” The question is whispered into an empty field, illuminated only by the stars twinkling above them.

Lance stops. He stares. Then he smiles, “I think I wanna join up with the Blade of Marmora.”

It was Keith’s turn to choke on his breath, “You- what?!”

Lance’s smile grew, “I want to do something bigger. I’ve had my fun on the farm. Now I need to join the rest of my family.”

Keith was moving before his brain caught up. His arms were already around Lance, nose buried in the crook of his neck. He’d missed Lance. The Lance that smirked whenever he did something to beat Keith. The Lance who relentlessly flirted with any and all things alive. The Lance who smiled his sweet smile while saying earth shattering things like ‘You’re family to me’. 

Under the stars two men were reunited with themselves. 

(“Hey, we’re having another bonding moment.”

“So you  did remember, asshole!”

“Keith.  _Keith_ . It was years ago. Oh my god stop.  _Keith_ !”)

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment, I really love getting feedback from you guys and maybe you could put more ideas for other fics or something. Go crazy


End file.
